Moroccan Aerospace Industry Struggles to Recover from COVID-19 Impact

"We had to let go of 30% of our staff and reorganize our production," explains Jonathan Modru, the young director of the plant built in Nouaceur in 2011 by the Ratier-Figeac Maroc (RFM) group in the "industrial acceleration zone" of MidParc, 30 km from Casablanca, to the newspaper Le Monde. This plant no longer operates at full capacity. "Despite a slow recovery, we remain confident. The health crisis has delayed our ramp-up," he explains, stating that the new productions for Boeing or Airbus will indeed begin in 2021.

Matis Aerospace, a specialist in aeronautical wiring and one of the very first companies to be established in Nouaceur, in 2001, finds itself in a nearly similar situation. "We will lose a year or two on our development forecasts, but for us it is only a postponement," predicts its president, Zahira Bouaouda.

A relatively cushioned shock but the Moroccan aeronautics sector seems far from its glory years. This health crisis is ruining Morocco’s efforts, which, like the automotive industry, is revolutionizing this sector. "It is a definite lull," acknowledges Hamid Benbrahim El Andaloussi, former number 2 of Royal Air Maroc (RAM) and Safran Maroc. "Aeronautics is the collateral victim of Covid-19. It will take three or four years to regain the 2019 level of activity, but the world is not going to stop building planes," he says.

The Moroccan government does not share this view. "Despite the slump, the demand for quality has been reaffirmed, in a sector where it is not negotiable, as well as its ability to manufacture on time and on schedule," says Moulay Hafid Elalamy, the Minister of Industry, Trade and Green and Digital Economy.